Tag: luke-51-11

My letting Jesus meet me in my need. believing the idea of a good God gets perpetually challenged while we must encounter such hardships and pains. Luke 5:1-11

Luke 5:1-11 New King James Version

Four Fishermen Called as Disciples

5 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. 3 Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8  When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they [a]forsook all and followed Him.

Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Sometimes a desperate need comes upon our lives. Inevitably these times of overwhelming lack make us feel stuck; we don’t have the resources or ability to overcome such need. In these moments, we often retreat, feel far from God.

The idea of a good God gets mightily challenged while we must encounter such hardship and pain. This proves tragic because God has repeatedly promised, and proven time and again exactly how his heart is with the poor and needy.

God, by his nature, sees emptiness and tries to fill it with goodness. Looking upon our broken world and the lives within it, God didn’t stay distant. Despite our sin, he entered the story through Jesus, also called Immanuel, God with us.

He became a man to reach us where we were. John 10:10

Here in Luke 5 we see how Jesus’s closeness transformed lives, performed miracles. With the man dropped through the roof, Christ forgave his sin and healed his body, acknowledged affirmed meeting both spiritual and physical.

Pointedly, he dealt with the spiritual first, the physical coming after. We also have to let him just meet us, invite us into the story.

First, we must realize he’s already near us, and then we must cry out to him, pleading with him to do what he must to do—love us and join, to fill us with his light and life, both redeeming and transforming us and our story with his own.

James 1:2-8 New Living Translation

Faith and Endurance

2 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. 

Sometimes our responses to a demand or request depends on who is ­asking.

Simon had worked hard all night without catching anything, so going out again and expecting a different result would not have been a likely plan for success.

By the time Jesus asked, Simon’s boat was moored, the nets had been washed.

It was time to call it quits.

So it is easy to imagine Simon brushing Jesus’ request aside.

What could a builder’s son possibly tell a fisherman about fishing?

But this was Jesus asking.

Jesus had been teaching people from the boat while Simon was cleaning his nets. Perhaps Simon had heard something that made him pay full attention.

So when Jesus asked him to put out into deep water and “let down the nets for a catch,” Simon said, “Because you say so, I will.”

As the clock continues to tick away, it can be easy to feel as if we have worked hard all night without catching anything.

For all our efforts we still struggle with the same problems and temptations.

Our boss demands a greater sacrifice of our time, our wife and children give us the same worries, and our neighbors seem no more open to Jesus than when we first befriended them. Even so, we will act right, keep on pushing out our nets.

Jesus has asked us for perseverance.

Sometimes our responses depend on who is doing the asking.

In the Name of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ….

Praying ….

Psalm 27
My Stronghold

Of David.

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom should I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
whom should I dread?
2 When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh,
my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army deploys against me,
my heart will not be afraid;
though a war breaks out against me,
I will still be confident.

4 I have asked one thing from the Lord;
it is what I desire:
to dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
gazing on the beauty of the Lord
and seeking him in his temple.
5 For he will conceal me in his shelter
in the day of adversity;
he will hide me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.
6 Then my head will be high
above my enemies around me;
I will offer sacrifices in his tent with shouts of joy.
I will sing and make music to the Lord.

7 Lord, hear my voice when I call;
be gracious to me and answer me.
8 My heart says this about you:
“Seek[a] his face.”
Lord, I will seek your face.
9 Do not hide your face from me;
do not turn your servant away in anger.
You have been my helper;
do not leave me or abandon me,
God of my salvation.
10 Even if my father and mother abandon me,
the Lord cares for me.

11 Because of my adversaries,
show me your way, Lord,
and lead me on a level path.
12 Do not give me over to the will of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing violence.

13 I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart be courageous.
Wait for the Lord.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Dare we to be the only ones who are eavesdropping? Jesus is saying unto Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be fishing for my people.” Luke 5:1-11

Luke 5:1-11 New Living Translation

The First Disciples

5 One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee,[a] great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon,[b] its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” 11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Word of God for the Children of God

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

I like to think of fishing as something that is to be relaxing.

I want a folding chair and a book when I fish.

Cast out the line, sit down, and read a book until something bites.

When I was a child, I liked placing the red and white bobbers on the fishing line.

Then, when I saw the bobber go under the water, I knew to pull the line.

Most of us today also view fishing as something to do recreationally.

But being that fisherman in the first century was a tough life and required hard labor.

Casting out their boats into the Sea of Galilee, 1st century fisherman had to stand on the edge of the boat and cast large nets into the water and then haul the nets back in.

For hours and hours a fisherman would continue to cast nets into the water.

This was not a one-man job for the work was laborious. With a catch of fish, a few men would be required to lift and pull the weight of the fish into the boat.

One thing I hated about fishing is the prospect of catching nothing. Spending hours fishing only to come home empty-handed is a great disappointment.

Even worse is when you look around and see others catching fish.

So you decide to move to that spot and it dries up. So you keep moving, hoping to catch fish, but to no avail.

But a fisherman in the 1st century, a lack of fish was not only a disappointment but was the loss of a paycheck.

Working as a fisherman is what put money in their pockets, food on the table.

So, Do you still think you like fishing?

I do, although I would often return home with an empty bucket, a sunburn and far too many mosquito bites to count and scratch at. Unlike me, Simon Peter didn’t fish for fun; his life depended on it. In this dramatic story, Peter not only catches a boatload of fish, but he is called by Jesus the Messiah to follow him.

After an exhausting, unsuccessful night of fishing, Simon and his crew were washing out their nets when Jesus came by.

He asked if he could use their boat for speaking to the people by the lakeshore, and then later he told the fishermen to take their boat out for a big catch of fish.

Simon wearily complied.

He was soon overwhelmed, however, with hauling in a catch of so many fish that his nets nearly broke. Simon fell at Jesus’ feet. He knew he was in the presence of the Lord, whose authority over creation was overwhelmingly clear.

Simon’s encounter with Jesus that day echoed the call of prophets like Moses, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, who knew they were in the presence of the living God.

And, like the prophets, Simon Peter was called by the Lord to serve him.

And what would that service be?

Jesus told Peter that from now on he would “fish for people” by drawing people around him to the love of Jesus.

When we meet Jesus, the living God, we do well to fall to our knees too.

Jesus calls each of us to obediently follow him and to share, without any conditions or excuses, in the glorious task of drawing others to his love.

The real authentic message here are in the last few words:

‘without thinking about success or failure, life or death, sacrifice or reward, consequences, vast riches or abject poverty, salaries, contracts, labor unions or anything associated, they silently stopped, left everything and followed him’.

They left everything behind them; the money from their great catch, business responsibilities because they had been captivated instead by the person of Jesus.

It dos not look like they asked or consulted their families or their attorney’s!

They just walked away from everything – looking for the Kingdom of God.

We too are to ‘seek first the kingdom of God’ – to live in God’s world, carrying the message of the Good News of Savior Jesus Christ from that vantage point.

So, how much do you authentically think you would still love laboring for God?

Psalm 107:23-32 The Message

23-32 Some of you set sail in big ships;
    you put to sea to do business in faraway ports.
Out at sea you saw God in action,
    saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean:
With a word he called up the wind—
    an ocean storm, towering waves!
You shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out;
    your hearts were stuck in your throats.
You were spun like a top, you reeled like a drunk,
    you didn’t know which end was up.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
    he got you out in the nick of time.
He quieted the wind down to a whisper,
    put a muzzle on all the big waves.
And you were so glad when the storm died down,
    and he led you safely back to harbor.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
    for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
Lift high your praises when the people assemble,
    shout Hallelujah when the elders meet!

Fisherman’s Prayer

God grant that I may live to fish until my dying day, and when it comes to my last cast I then must humbly pray. When in the Lord’s safe landing net I’m peacefully asleep. That in His mercy, I be judged good enough to keep.

The Fisherman with His Savior

Surely Jesus loves fishermen for He chose them for His own, To be with Him and learn from Him and someday share His home. It must have been their trust in God and patience He found rare, That keeps them very near His heart and forever in His care.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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